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Blossom
Blossom is a Syndication network sitcom created by Don Reo, starring actress Mayim Bialik in the title role. The show first debuted as a pilot preview on July 5, 1990; it premiered as a mid-season replacement on January 3, 1991, lasting until May 22, 1995 after 5 seasons & 114 episodes. It was produced by Reo's Impact Zone Productions and Witt/Thomas Productions in association with Touchstone Television. Plot The show centered on the life of Blossom Russo, a teenage girl who lives with her divorced musician father, Nick and two older brothers, Nick and Joey. Cast Main Cast *Mayim Bialik as Blossom Russo *Joey Lawrence as Joey Russo *Michael Stoyunov as Anthony Russo *Ted Wass as Nick Russo *Jenna Van Oy as Six LeMeure *Bernard Hughes as Buzz Richman 2-4 *David Lascher as Vinnie Bonitardi *Finola Hughes as Carol Russo 5 *Courtney Chase as Kennedy 5 Recurring Cast *Melissa Manchester as Maddy Russo *Portia Dawson as Rhonda Jo Applegate *Gail Edwards as Sharon LeMeure *Samaria Graham as Shelly Russo *Kevin Jamal Woods as Frank 5 Production Development In 1988, series creator Don Reo had begun a producing partnership with Paul Junger Witt and Tony Thomas, in which the latter two were bringing his screenplays to television under the established "Witt/Thomas Productions" nameplate. The genesis of the project that eventually became Blossom occurred soon after Reo's association with Witt and Thomas began, and coincided with another series they were bringing to CBS in 1989, Heartland. The project that would be Blossom had two sources of inspiration. The creation process was born when Reo attended a family party thrown by his long-time friend Dion DiMucci (the lead singer of Dion and the Belmonts). Reo regarded DiMucci as being a "hip, with-it musician father", giving calm, sage, non-judgmental advice to his children and loving them unconditionally. During the party, DiMucci demonstrated and reinforced the interraction with his children, and inspired Reo to him to his family dynamic for a TV pilot in which the "cool" father would be a highlight. However, just prior to attending the DiMucci party, Reo had toyed with the idea of writing a pilot that depicted a wise-beyond-his-years, introspective teenage boy, modeled closely after protagonist Holden Caulfield in J. D. Salinger's book, "The Catcher in the Rye." He decided to include both the hip father and Holden Caulfield-esque boy in the new pilot, with the boy eventually becoming the lead character. With Witt and Thomas' support of the storyline, Reo pitched the project to Syndication in 1989 under the title Richie. Reo had the utmost faith in Syndication agreeing to the format as it was, and believed that the unique characters would transform family sitcoms if it became a series. Syndication liked the screenplay, but they ordered changes to the format. The network executives told Reo and Witt/Thomas that they wanted to see the lead character go from being the Holden Caulfield-like Richie to that of his older sister, Blossom, and that the girl should have Richie's character traits instead. At the same time, Syndication felt that the combination of such an emotionally intuitive child and a super-chic father was too radical to put on the air, so they urged Reo and Witt/Thomas to give Blossom and her siblings nuclear, conservative parents. In the show's series finale, Blossom records a new entry into her video diary, in which she discusses the changes happening in her life post-high school. As she also examines how much she has grown since her first video diary entry at the beginning of the series, Blossom describes herself as "a teenage Holden Caulfield." Reo wrote the finale with series producer Judith D. Allison, and thus decided to make an allusion to the inspiration of the lead character. The pilot episode At the time Mayim Bialik signed on for the pilot, she had recently worked on another sitcom project for Fox, "Molloy." Both Syndication (which had bought the "Blossom" pilot) and Fox were planning to broadcast both Bialik projects in 1990, with either of the two set to continue as a regular series beyond its preview/tryout run, depending on which was more successful. The pilot episode of Blossom was taped in the spring of 1990, and was the first of the projects to air, with NBC broadcasting the pilot as a special on July 5, 1990. Four weeks later, Fox commenced a seven-episode tryout run for "Molloy" whose episodes had been produced in 1989, prior to Bialik signing on for the Syndication pilot. "Molloy" faced low ratings, and Fox canceled the series after the seven-episode order was completed. Meanwhile, Syndication executives, who had been pleased with the ratings of the "Blossom" pilot special, ordered the show as a midseason replacement for January 1991. In the pilot, Blossom Russo lived with both her parents, in a more conservative, nuclear household. Her father was played by Richard Masur, and was named Terry Russo; Barrie Youngfellow (fresh off the show "It's a Living", another Witt/Thomas production) played Blossom's mother, named Barbara Russo. All other cast members were present in the pilot, all with their familiar character names, except for Joey Lawrence's character whose name was Donny Russo. Tony was going through his first drug/alcohol rehab period (in which Terry remarked that "he had a serious problem; he missed all of 1989"), and had his own separate scene with Blossom in the kitchen late at night as he gave her sage anecdotes about their lives. Neither of Blossom's parents had musical careers in the pilot, with Terry working as an accountant and Barbara working as a finance consultant. (Coincidentally, Youngfellow's It's a Living co-star Gail Edwards would later be a recurring guest star during the series' run, as Six's mother, Sharon LeMeure). The original subject of divorce, was carried out differently after the pilot, involved Blossom suspecting that her parents were having marriage troubles. Blossom confides in Six about the fights and discussions she overheard them having, which is followed by Terry and Barbara's announcement over dinner that they were going to meet with an attorney friend. Her fears continue to grow until her parents reveal that they were only having their wills drawn up. Notable guest stars in the pilot included Debra Sandlund as Terry's secretary and Justin Whalin as William Zimmerman, a boy at school who wishes to go steady with Blossom. The original theme music in the pilot was Bobby Brown's 1988 hit song "My Prerogative", which was featured over the first season opening credits format of Blossom dancing in her bedroom, as she taped herself on home video. Between production of the pilot and regular series, the producers hired Dr. John (who had sung a cover of the standard "Accentuate the Positive" as the theme for Bialik's other series, Molloy) to perform the replacement theme, "My Opinionation". The title sequence was re-shot so that Bialik's dancing was more in sync with "My Opinionation". In syndicated reruns of the show's pilot, "My Opinionation" is used for the opening sequence, with Bialik's dancing (originally to "My Prerogative") noticeably out-of-sync with the song. Soon after Syndication picked up "Blossom" as a regular series, Reo successfully convinced programming chief Brandon Tartikoff and his executives to allow the lead character to have the chic, divorced musician father he had originally envisioned for the project. Masur & Youngfellow were dismissed, and Witt and Thomas then convinced Ted Wass, who had previously starred on their 1970s sitcom "Soap" to portray Blossom's single father Nick Russo, on Wass' condition that he could also direct numerous episodes. Mayim Bialik claimed to have had influence in Wass' casting, as she enjoyed auditioning with him the most out of other actors who were trying out when the role was being recast. Earlier, before the pilot was shot, Mayim Bialik had single-handedly been responsible for Michael Stoyanov joining the project, after she had seen him as a guest star on sister series, "Empty Nest". Not only did Bialik enjoy watching Stoyanov, but she also felt that they shared a strong physical resemblance, and that they would be believable as brother and sister. Bill Bixby became a frequent director on the show during its third season, a role that he continued for several episodes into the fourth, despite his ongoing battle with prostate cancer. On November 15, 1993, shortly after learning that his illness was terminal, he collapsed on the Blossom set and was hospitalized; he died six days later. Category:1990s television series Category:1991 Category:1992 Category:1993 Category:1994 Category:1995 Category:Syndication